Kids learning apps without ads: how to check before you download

Five checks on the App Store and Google Play that show whether a kids app has ads, collects data or pushes purchases, before your child opens it.

Updated 2026-10-22

Ads in children's apps are more than an annoyance. They interrupt play, they often advertise other games, and one stray tap can take a child to a store page. The good news is that both app stores show most of what you need to know on the app's page, if you know where to look.

Five checks before you download

1. Look for 'Contains ads'. On Google Play, apps that show ads carry a 'Contains ads' label on the app's page. If it is there, the app has ads, whatever the description says. The App Store has no such label, so read the description and recent reviews.
2. Read the privacy section. On the App Store it is called App Privacy, and the best label for a kids app is 'Data Not Collected'. On Google Play, open Data safety and look at what is collected and what is shared.
3. Check for in-app purchases. Both stores say when an app offers them. That is not bad in itself, since it is how many ad-free apps are paid for, but purchases should sit behind a parent check.
4. Look for a parent gate. Good kids apps put purchases, settings and links out of the app behind a question a young child cannot answer.
5. Check for sign-ups. A learning game for a five-year-old rarely needs an email address or an account.

Apple's rules for apps in the App Store's Kids category (App Store Review Guideline 1.3) say they must keep links out of the app and purchases behind a parental gate, and should not include third-party analytics or third-party advertising, with limited exceptions. In the United States, COPPA sets rules for collecting personal information from children under 13.

Why 'free' kids apps usually have ads

An app has to pay for itself somehow. Free apps usually do it with ads, or by selling extras to the player, which in a kids app means to the child. Ad-free apps charge the grown-up instead: a one-time price or a subscription. With a paid app you can see the deal before your child plays, and the app has no reason to keep them watching ads.

Turn on the store's own protections

• On iPhone and iPad, Family Sharing has Ask to Buy: your child's purchase and download requests come to your phone for approval.
• On Android, Google Play can ask for your password or fingerprint for every purchase, and Family Link lets you approve your child's purchases and downloads.
• Screen Time on iPhone and iPad, and Family Link on Android, can set daily limits for apps.

What a family app can look like

Clever Cove was built to pass these checks. It has no ads, no accounts, no analytics and no tracking, and nothing your child does leaves the device. Purchases, settings and the only links out of the app sit behind a parent check: three numbers written as words, typed on a shuffled keypad, and the grown-up's year of birth before any plan. Inside are 14 learning games for ages 3 to 11, from picture sudoku and bubble maths to letters, clocks, coins, fractions and first coding, with every instruction spoken aloud and an optional daily play-time limit.

Clever Cove: Kids Brain GamesSudoku, math & puzzles. Coming soon to the App Store and Google Play.